


Juliana Valdes vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

by thisisawesomeyouguys



Category: Amar a Muerte, Bare: A Pop Opera, Love Simon (2018), Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Fandom, Simonverse | Creekwood Series - Becky Albertalli
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-12-18 06:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18244574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisisawesomeyouguys/pseuds/thisisawesomeyouguys
Summary: The Theatre kid!Valentina and Assistant stage manager!Juliana high school AU no one asked for.Kind of based on Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda with a little amount of Bare:A Pop Opera thrown in, because I love me some angst.





	1. Chapter 1

“So, I read your email." Lucho says to me. I blink.  
“What?" I am sitting at the edge of the stage and Lucho is sitting on a fold-up chair in front of me.  
“Your email, Valdes. The one you were trying to send to your mom and stepdad because you are too scared to come out to them in real life? Ring any bells?"  
“You what?! That was private!" That email wasn't supposed to be seen by anyone. Not my parents. And especially not by Lucho.  
He rubs his neck, embarrassed.“Sorry. But you were in a hurry and forgot to log out and since I was on the next computer, I kind of..." He trails off. I gulp. This is awesome. Of course this would happen. If I hadn't been such an idiot, I would have logged out before running off to class but no. At least I could have sent the email, but I chickened out at the last minute. Straight people think coming out to your parents is no big deal. Yeah right. Even if you know your parents are going to support you, no matter what, it does not ease the tension out of your system. And I don't even know if my mom would accept it. My stepdad would, because he is kind of awesome, but still.  
“You know, it's kind of cool. I think it's really cool that you are gay. You do you, you know what I mean?" No, I don't. I stay silent, thinking how this conversation would go. Lucho smiles and says,“Don't worry, I won't show them to anyone."  
My eyes widen.“What do you mean by ‘show them'? Did you- did you take screenshots?"  
“Um...yeah. Kind of? I actually need your help with something."  
“You could have just asked." I try not to shout. That slime ball. I try to calm myself down and take a deep breath.“What do you need?" I finally say.  
“You know Guille, right?" He's one of my best friends in high school, how could I not know him? I nod.  
“His sister, Valentina is also in this play. I thought if you could,uh, put a good word in for me?"  
“You want me to set you up with Vale?"  
“Yeah. If you want to, of course."  
“And if I don't?" I know the answer, though. He'll leak my email. Duh. Blackmail 101. My father used to do it with a lot of his clients. I grit my teeth.  
“Fine." I can't believe I am doing this.  
He grins and nods. “Cool. Want to exchange numbers?"  
“Do I have a choice?" He shrugs. And hands out his phone. I snatch it and punch my number. He takes it back and says,“I'll call you when I get the time."  
I muttered under my breath,“Asshole."  
“What?"  
“Nothing."  
Ms. Lucia calls us all back on the stage.“Okay guys, that's enough for today. I need you all back on Wednesday, though." She goes on about the positions of the actors and set pieces. I glance around and cast my eyes on Valentina Carvajal, who's playing Juliet. Because of course. Her brother and my no.1 bro, Guille is the most popular jock. Their older sister, Eva, was a genius who graduated a year early. All three are the most popular crowd in their respective years.  
From what I know, Valentina is a year younger than us. She has the bluest eyes I have ever seen and golden-brown gorgeous hair. Not that I am staring. Okay, maybe a little. Setting her up with Lucho will be a problem. I'll have to talk to her first. Believe me, in all the years that I have been Guille's best friend, she and I have barely exchanged words. This is the worst time to start our friendship. I'll have to do it. I don't want to think what will happen if I don't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what I am going with this, but I kind of don't want to stop? So yeah....   
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this.


	2. Chapter 2

I walk to Guille's house at the end of the day. It's near the school so I don't have to make an effort to walk or have to spend my money on a taxi. His folks lives in the nicer part of town, where there are picture-perfect suburban houses with lush green lawns and neighbors that are actually nice. I love being there and not only because of his big house with so many rooms. His family is kind of awesome as well. I've been there since the middle of second grade and Renata since sixth grade, so they know us well.  
As I walk inside, Alirio nods at me, opening the front door. I step inside and head straight for the basement, where I know he's going to be. I hear nothing as I go inside the basement and see Guille bunched over some papers, holding his head in his hands. Renata is there, tapping her pencil against her cheek, trying to complete some homework. She looks up at me and grins.  
“How was the first day with the theatre kids?" she asks. Guille turns his chair, surprised to see me.  
“It was okay," I say,“Definitely better than I expected."  
“I still don't understand why Ms. Lucia took you in for stage manager. I never thought you would get involved in an actual play, Juli. You don't have one ounce of acting talent in you," She says.  
“Gee, thanks. But being an assistant stage manager doesn't involve any acting, for your kind information. What are you working on, by the way?"  
“Some English for class," she says, rolling her eyes.“Can you believe that Mr. Reyes wants us to hand over our essays by Saturday? Like he gave us two days to complete a five page essay."  
I grin. Renata has hated English since she started learning it. I turn to Guille who has been sitting silently, listening to us.“From the way you were sitting," I say,“I assume you were trying to dabble in algebra. Without my help."  
He smiles, nodding. I have been helping him with homework for sometime now.  
“Hey guys," a new voice chirps. I jump and turn at the same time. Valentina is standing at the door of the basement, leaning on a wall.“Can I come in? I forgot my notebooks here."  
Guille teases,“You were trying to eavesdrop on us, weren't you?" He wags his finger at her.  
“Please." Valentina rolls her eyes.“As if I' ve got nothing better to do."  
She comes into the room and smacks Guille's head.  
“Ouch! What was that for?"  
“For sitting in my chair. And eating my candy."  
“It wasn't me!"  
“Yeah, right." She turns and walks out of the room, grabbing her books on the way from the table near the door.  
“Crazy. She is crazy," Guille mutters. Renata shakes her head and gets up to close the door.  
“So," she says,“You're still throwing her the birthday party, right?" Vale's birthday is next week, and Guille wants to throw her a party. He asked us to help too.  
Guille nods and asks,“Yeah, but who should I invite?" Despite being popular, Val has no close friends. She's friendly with everyone, but not one true friend. I can't imagine what that must be like. I don't think I would survive school without Guille and Renata. “A few of her classmates, probably." Renata answers. “Maybe the theatre group too," I blurt out. Guille looks at me. I can't believe I am doing this. But inviting the theatre group means inviting Lucho as well, so maybe then he and Vale will become a thing and I won't have to worry about my email being leaked. At last, Guille nods.“Okay," he says,“That's a good idea. I'll make a list of the things we need." Yup, I am officially the worst person on Earth.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update. Basically school life got in the way of posting. I swear I will try to be more regular from now on. Emphasis on ‘try'. But we'll see.

At home, Panchito is cooking dinner. Mom had a night shift so it's just me and him. I try to do some homework in my room, but I am honestly not in the mood. I try not to think back on today's events. My phone vibrates and I immediately drop my pencil, thinking Guille must have gotten frustrated enough (again) with his homework. I glance at my phone. It's a text from an unknown number. I look at the message.  
-hey valdez it's lucho  
Of course he wouldn't worry about grammar.  
-did u talk to valntina yet or not  
Damn, that buffoon is impatient as fuck. I ignore it, trying to solve for x, but he messages again.  
-i mean no pressure of course brt like did u do anything  
Yeah, no. Honestly I don't want to answer but then  
-heyyyy please reply dude  
I think he's going to message me until he gets an answer. I breath in, breath out and text him.  
\- I haven't talked to her yet. But we have a party next week at her house. Wanna come?  
I press send and wait. The reply comes almost immediately.  
-fuck yeah thank you so much valdez ill bring drinks  
-No need for that. Just come to the party.  
-k again thank u.  
I don't reply and he doesn't text anything else either. I sigh and throw the phone on my bed. The doorbell rings and I nearly jump out of the chair I am sitting in.  
“Don't worry, I'll get it," Panchito says before opening the door.  
I hear my mom's voice. I don't move from my position, knowing she will come inside anyway. And she does. She kisses my forehead and settles on the bed facing me.  
“How was school?" She asks.  
Great mom. Some asshole blackmailed me into trying to betray my best friend and his sister and I fell for it because otherwise he would tell the whole school that I am gay. Also, did I mention I am gay?  
I say all this in my head, but all that comes out of my mouth is,“It was okay, mom. Nothing special." I should tell her now. At least then it'll be out. But something stops me from doing it. Maybe it's because she is too tired to handle it. Maybe it's not the right time. Maybe I am scared. Maybe all of the above and more. Not right now, but soon, I promise myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I kind of hate wrong grammar.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day at rehearsal, I try to avoid Lucho as much as possible. He is constantly trying to catch my eye. I ignore him and instead try to pay attention to what Ms. Lucia is saying.  
“Okay, guys. This is Act 2, Scene 2. I know we're moving fast, but you guys finished Act 1 pretty okay-ishly yesterday without your scripts. Let me see that one more time with Act 2. Come on, everyone. Positions!"  
I scramble through my script, trying to keep up with the actors' dialogues. Lucho enters the stage with a plastic sword in hand and starts reciting.  
“He jests at scars that never felt a wound." He pauses. Juliet, er, Valentina comes out on the make-shift tower which hasn't been painted yet. She is gazing at the distance and Lucho continues,“But soft! What light, through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon."  
He recites his lines perfectly to a T. My mind tunes out his words, and I glance around me. In the front of the stage, Sergio and Nayeli are hanging out, whispering to each other and giggling. The rest of the cast are sitting and listening in rapt attention.  
I tune back in as Lucho finishes,“Oh that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!"  
Valentina starts,“Ay, me!" And without giving Lucho time to speak, she monologues,“Romeo O Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo! Deny thy father and..." She trails off, trying to remember her lines.  
I whisper,“Refuse thy name." She glances at me gratefully and continues. The rest of the scene goes smoothly and Ms. Lucia calls for a break. She comes up to Vale and says,“That was great, Valentina, but you forgot to give Lucho his line." She smiles and continues,“I think you need to practice more. Don't worry, we have a lot of time."  
Valentina nods sheepishly. Ms. Lucia smiles once more and heads towards Lucho. I watch as Valentina sips water from her bottle. She catches me staring. I turn away but she starts walking towards me. I can see Lucho staring over Ms. Lucia's head as she gives him suggestions.  
“Hey," she says as she reaches me,“Thanks for the save back there."  
“Oh. No problem. No big deal." I say.  
Valentina continues to say,“Honestly, I can't remember half the lines I have to say. And the play is in one month. So really, I am quite stressed. You kind of saved me today."  
I smile at her. Honestly, it's hard not to.“Don't worry about it. You're going to be great. I honestly haven't seen a smarter or prettier Juliet anywhere." Damn. I can't believe I said that. Maybe it's the stage lights, but I think I see Vale's cheeks turn pink. I can feel my face get hot too.  
“Hey, maybe you can quiz us on our lines." I jump. Lucho grins at me. I hadn't noticed him coming up from behind me.  
“What do you mean?" I ask. He shrugs.“You know, meet at the Coffee Place and maybe practice?" He avoids looking at Valentina all the while.  
“That's a good idea." Valentina nods her head.“Maybe we should. How about tomorrow after rehearsal?"  
“Okay," Lucho says and looks at me. I blink.  
“Sure. Okay, yeah." Valentina smiles and goes back to her position as the next scene starts. Lucho grins at me and runs off to the back of the stage, ready for his cue. So I guess this is happening. Well, okay. We'll get through this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guys believe this was the longest chapter yet? I can't.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. School and homework is a bitch.

After rehearsals, I am standing on the road, deciding where to go. A car pulls up in front of me.  
“Hey," Valentina pokes her head out.“You are going to our house, right?"  
I nod, surprised.“Yeah, maybe. I haven't decided where to go yet, my house or yours."  
She nods and begins pulling her window up. Suddenly she stops.“Hey, I can give you a ride if you want," she says, shrugging.  
“Uh, no thanks."  
“Come on. Please." She say this while pouting and I know I can't deny her. She just looks so cute right now.  
I sigh.“Okay, fine. But only because you owe me for saving your ass back there."  
She grins and rolls up her window, motioning me to come in. I open the door and sit on the front seat beside her. Her car smells really nice, kind of like vanilla and chocolate. I never noticed that before with Guille, but now that I think about it, his room smells the same.  
“Do you mind if I put on some music?" Valentina asks me.  
“No, I don't. As long as you don't put on dubstep or something. I've had enough experience with that because of your brother."  
She laughs and shakes her head.“Guille never liked the right type of music."  
She connests her phone to the outlet and tries to decide what to put on. At last she puts on something and starts to drive. I listen to the song silently. It's kind of pop- rock and really boppy. I wouldn't expect anything less from Valentina ‘sunshine personified' Carvajal.  
Valentina notices me nodding along to the music and smiles. I try not to blush. I mostly like to listen to music while in my room through earphones. It offers me a sense of privacy and I feel like I am the only one in the world. Also I like not to get embarrassed because of my choice of listening only to musical soundtracks.  
We drive most of the way silently, listening to one song after the other  
Then, the battery dies, I guess, because the mobile phone shuts down.  
“Dammit, I forgot to charge it," Valentina says. She pulls over and yanks the cord out.  
She turns to me.“Do you have any music on your phone?" She asks.“I can't drive without music or some noise."  
“You won't like my taste." Nope nope nope. Not going to be embarrassed in front of her.  
“It can't be worse than Guille's," she says, smiling at me. I reluctantly hand over my phone to her which she plugs in and searches through my playlist. I can imagine her laughter when she realizes every one of my songs are musical-related. Instead, she gives my phone back.“You choose," she says.  
Oh boy. Okay, try something that's not going to embarrass you, I tell myself. I look through, and finally choose something. I place the phone in it's place. Drums start while Valentina starts the car again. Then she starts smiling.“I didn't know there were albums about Romeo and Juliet." She grins at me.  
“Actually, it's from a musical,” I admit, ducking my head.  
“Which one?" She asks. I look up, expecting to see her mocking me. But she starts straight ahead and I realize that this is not a question asked jokingly.  
“It's Bare."  
She nods and asks again,“What is it about?"  
“Umm, it's about.... two kids at a Catholicholic school who love each other but can't be together because of stuff."  
“So basically like Romeo and Juliet."  
Yeah. Except maybe a little more gay. I don't say that out loud, of course. We continue to drive in silence till we reach her home and I hastily say goodbye, unplugging my phone off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want you guys to guess which song they were playing. Winner gets... nothing


End file.
